formed, tells us the priests bestowed the name of Ifis only on that part of Egypt which the Nile waters, alluding to its fecundity; and adds that, in facred language, the inundation was called the marriage of Ofiris with Ifis.

I have the honour to be, &c.

LETTER

Some writers call Sothis Ifis, but this star, called Sirius by the Greeks, and Canicula by the Latins, was only confecrated to that goddefs. The Egyptians formed two periods, dated at the rifing of this far. Their great veneration for it proceeded from their being able, at the time of its beliacal rifing, to determine the height of the inundation; whence they named it the ftar which makes the waters increafe.

To M. L. M.

Grand Cairo.

ASTRONOMERS, having obferved the

Gourfe of Sothis, and the relation it had to Ifis and the inundation, proposed this star as an object of veneration, and confecrated it by religion. Its fame was fuch that feveral authors have called it Ifis. "Ifis is alfo the

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name of a star; called Sothis, in Egyptian, "and in Greek Astrocyon (Aspoxwv) (ƒ).”—

(f) Horapoll. Hieroglyph. lib. 1.

"The

"The Egyptians affirm Sothis and Ifis are "the fame (g)." Be thefe opinions as they may, Sothis, certainly, was not Ifis, but merely the conftellation of the dog, and, particularly, the ftar Sirius. The Egyptians dated the commencement of the civil year from his rifing. "The ftar which the Greeks call "Sirius, and the dog ftar, the Egyptians σε name Sothis. The conftellation of Orion "and the dog are confecrated to Horus and "Ifis (b)." Theon the aftronomer supports this opinion (i), "Sirius rifes about eleven "at night, at which time the Egyptian year begins, and his rifing has been confecrated to Ifis."" Aquarius is not at Memphis, as at Rome, the beginning of the year, but Cancer, near which fign is "Sothis, which the Greeks call the dog. "The first day of the Egyptian month,

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and, according to them, of the crea"tion of the world, is the rifing of this "star (k)."—" Antiquity affigns the lion

(s) Damafius in vitâ Ifidori.
(b) Plut. de Ifide et Ofiride.
(i) Theon. in Arati Phænom.

(4) Porphyr. de Antro Nympharum.

" and

and the crab to the Sun and Moon, because they were under thofe figns at the crea"tion (1)." These laft words may be fupposed to mark the time when men, after numerous obfervations on the motion of the celestial bodies, formed their discoveries into one doctrinal fyftem, which they called Aftronomy, and dated the creation from that epocha. Were this conjecture true it would prove the Egyptians to be the most antient of aftronomers, for authors attribute to them this allegoric language.

These citations, Sir, demonftrate Sothis was not Ifis, but confecrated to Ifis. The aftronomers have two periods they called Sothic, because they were dated at the rifing of this ftar. The first comprehended one thousand four hundred and fixty-one years, in which they principally confidered the course of the Sun, that, after this long revolution, returned to the fame pofition in the heavens. The duration of the fecond was twenty-five years, and related to the courfe of the Sun and Moon. They had obferved that, after this fpace of time, the new Moons

(1) Macrob. Somn. Scipionis.

began on the fame day of the year, without, however, being at the fame point of the Zodiack. By this cycle, which included exactly three hundred and nine lunar revolutions, they regulated their festivals, for they paid great attention to the Neomeniæ.

This was the chief of the reasons which led them to confecrate the dog ftar to Ifis. They fuppofed this deity to be the cause of the inundation; and, as they could judge by the rifing of Sothis how high the waters would be, they dedicated this ftar to her. "The rifing of the dog ftar announces, by "certain figns, the events of the year (m)." This paffage must be understood of the increase of the Nile, which was the most important phænomenon of Egypt. Diodorus Siculus (n) informs us the Egyptians called Sothis the star which made the waters increase.

Bochart and Kircher, who knew that the Greeks called Sothis, Kuwv, a dog, and the Latins Canicula, have pretended this word had the fame fignification in Egyptian; but

(m) Horapoll. Hieroglyph. lib. 1.

(n) Lib. 1.

Jablonski